Samsung fired its opening salvo against Apple's allegation that the South Korean giant ripped off the iPhone design, and claimed it worked its arse off to develop its own gadgets. At the two tech titans' ongoing patent trial in the US yesterday, Sammy also argued that Apple's iProducts are not unique.

The South Korean firm wheeled out its designer Jeeyuen Wang, who created the icons for the Samsung Galaxy devices. She denied copying Apple's user interface when she worked on the Galaxy range, and claimed that hundreds of designers worked on the original Galaxy S I.

“I slept perhaps two hours or three hours a night,” she told the court. “That was about it.”

Wang added that the firm considered lots of options for its icons, not just the set it ended up rolling out. Apple claims they resemble its own iPhone on-screen icons too closely.

Samsung also used video testimony from Roger Fidler, who created prototype tablets for interactive newspapers, to argue in court that the iPhone and iPad designs aren't unique. Some of Fidler's devices look like Apple's fondleslab, complete with a large touchscreen and rounded corners.

The South Korean chaebol also brought in Itay Sherman, a former exec at Texas Instruments and now CEO at DoubleTouch - a multitouch-screen firm - to tell the jury that Apple's design patents should be ruled invalid because of prior art.

Samsung's basic counter-allegation is that Apple cherry-picked ideas for features from various sources and then packaged together, so the designs were obvious and can't be patented.

Sherman also told the court that some of what Apple has protected as part of its design is actually functional, so can't be included in a design patent.

Apple responded at the trial by trotting out the internal documents that showed Samsung comparing its icons to the iPhone.

The Cupertino lawyer also showed the jury Sony's teardrop-shaped tablet and said that although it had a rectangular display and rounded corners, it doesn't look like the iPad and doesn't infringe Apple's design patent. The fruity firm also brought out smartphones that don't look like iPhones such as Nokia's Lumia 800. The trial continues. ®